Peter The Great knew what he was talking about when he said: ‘Destiny may ride with us today, but there is no reason for it to interfere with lunch’.
It’s all very well starting the day the right way with a great breakfast, but a poor lunch – or, heaven forbid, skipping it entirely – is just a recipe for disaster. You may have booked your accommodation and perhaps what you’ll be doing in the New Forest. You may have even considered dinner, but why stop there. Lunch is the perfect filling to your fueling sandwich.
If you’ve been walking, cycling or sightseeing all morning, you’ll have worked up an appetite.
Fear not, when it comes to lunch in the New Forest, help is at hand – there’s a smorgasbord of choice, not least from the New Forest Collection. Warning: we hope you’ve eaten recently, as reading on may cause hunger pangs…
Drift this way
Beaulieu
Set in the heart of the New Forest, The Drift, Brockenhurst is a relaxed, family and dog-friendly pub restaurant which boasts a restaurant, cosy bar and extensive gardens.
The menu is every bit as welcoming – from small plates to classics to burgers and buns, created from daily deliveries of picked-that-morning vegetables, freshly caught fish from in-shore day boats, free-range meat from local farms and eggs from happy hens. With seasonal changes, the lunch menu features such temptations as beer battered fish finger bap; Owton’s dry-aged ribeye steak, chunky chips, bearnaise sauce, pickled shallot, watercress salad; finished off with rhubarb and apple crumble, cinnamon crumble topping, soya custard. And that’s not even mentioning Sunday roasts…
How about the ultimate lunchtime treat at Beaulieu Inn – a traditional afternoon tea? The only controversial decision is whether it’s cream or jam which goes on the scones first.
From a sumptuous savoury selection such as brie and cranberry tarts, Coronation Turkey sandwiches, hog roast and stuffing sausage rolls, dive into the sweet delights of marzipan fruit cake or St Clement’s posset, before the ultimate afternoon tea choice – scones with strawberry jam and Dorset clotted cream. We’re ‘cream first’ but please don’t judge us!
So you’ve spent the morning exploring Lyndhurst but hunger has got the better of you… help is at hand. One of the best lunch spots in the New Forest, choice is the only problem you’ll have at Bartley Lodge – mouth-watering plates like Isle Of Wight tomato salad, vegan mozzarella, basil, balsamic, or how about grilled fillet of sea bass, Jersey royals, sea greens and lemon herb butter? That’s before you’ve even considered a decadent afternoon tea or a Sunday roast followed by croissant bread and butter pudding…
Long walks in the forest or relaxing rides along bridleways and towpaths deserve a reward – whether that’s a cold beer or a leisurely lunch. If you need some recommendations (for walks or rides), then we can help with that. When it comes to lunch, we have a few ideas too…
The 1820 Brasserie at Forest Lodge in Lyndhurst is a great little sanctuary for just those moments – not least locally reared, 28-day aged steaks, sharing boards and stone-baked pizzas.
We can’t recommend highly enough that you get in some walking and cycling during your stay in the New Forest – but a short break should be just that. A chance to rest and recharge; especially if it’s an adults-only break. Burley Manor offers a bit of everything, from the luxurious spa to a Mediterranean-influenced menu. The restaurant menu follows the seasons and sources local ingredients as much as possible – be that local pigs or Burley venison. If you’ve heard of the slow food movement, the team at Burley Manor are firm believers in it. That doesn’t mean waiting ages for your food to arrive, it means taking the time to savour the flavours and make lunch a real event, before you head back to the spa or into the woods…
